Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

There are two words that come to mind when I think of Fourth Wing. Intoxicating, yet predictable.

This (barely) new adult romantasy book follows heroin Violet Sorrengail, who, at twenty years old, is forced to join the war efforts by being placed in the Rider Quadrant at Basgiath War College by her mother (the commanding general) instead of the Scribe Quadrant, where she had been trained for most of her life.

Thanks to her family name, she enters with a target on her back. Xaden Riorson, a powerful third-year, sets his eyes on her right away. As the child of the rebel leader, they are bound to be sworn enemies. Intoxicating. Predictable.

Violet doesn’t believe she belongs there; most of her family, her friends, and her professors all believe she won’t survive to pair with a dragon. Violet is small and fragile, which is something most dragons would look past, but she is also smart, quick, and compassionate.

While she is tiny, in a way many mcs are, I appreciated that Violet does not have an ounce of “I’m not like other girls.” That is not how this book is written. Gender is just… gender in this series instead of something that truly separates characters. This type of writing is becoming more common, and I am glad to see it.

I liked that while this book has one main location, the world spans past the school. While Violet has to survive the next three years in the Riders Quadrant, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

I had heard that this series was a lot like Divergent, which is why I avoided it (I really do not like most dystopian fiction and will avoid anything compared to the worst of it), but in this book, I saw Sarah J Maas influence, a lot of similarities to How to Train Your Dragon, and references to The Hunger Games. And sure, some Divergent, but with a lot less 2011 to mess it up.

This book had many tender moments—many that I do not want to give away—but rarely did I feel like I couldn’t tear myself away from the pages.

I will say, the second half of the book had more moments that led to it being a bit more dystopian. I definitely relate to her professors calling the students “assets.” I have had similar things said about me and my coworkers in the workplace. I guess so is the way in wartime and capitalism. But that didn’t turn me away because it wasn’t done poorly.

What was done poorly were some of the relationships. This could be because I am sick of reading the same thing over and over again. To give nothing away, I will just say that I want a romance to either completely surprise me or be insanely comfortable. And I don’t mean instant love; that isn’t comfort; that is force. But just that warmth that these types of books never give us.

However, to give this book an insane amount of credit, I did something I had never done before. Halfway through my Sunday reading session, I bought the book on Amazon to be shipped to me (and it arrived later that night, just as I was finishing the book).

Now onto the second book.